Sheffield’s industrial hamlet museum reopens with a range of half-term activities

Visit a piece of Sheffield’s heritage dating back to the 18th century as the Abbeydale industrial hamlet opens up again with FREE entry available to all.
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The industrial hamlet in Abbeydale is a unique eighteenth-century industrial works; and was once a producer of agricultural tools and the largest water-powered industrial site on the River Sheaf – it now forms a group of Grade I and Grade II listed buildings.

Visitors can view the manager's house and worker's cottage, waterwheels, workshops, tilt hammers, a grinding hull, steam engine and the last complete surviving crucible steel furnace in the UK.

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To celebrate the reopening and of the site, Abbeydale Hamlet is asking people to design and make a badge of their favourite thing at the Hamlet – it could be something you missed seeing over lockdown, or maybe something you have only just discovered.

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet will open on May 29.Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet will open on May 29.
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet will open on May 29.

Kirstie Hamilton, director of programmes at Sheffield Museums: “We are delighted to be able to welcome visitors back to Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet this weekend after being closed since March last year.

"Visitors can now enjoy free entry and our team have been working hard to introduce a range of measures that ensure everyone can visit with confidence knowing that we are following Covid-safe guidance, including online booking to monitor visitor flow.

“Half-term family activities also make a return this week at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Kelham Island Museum, Millennium Gallery and Weston Park Museum and plans for Abbeydale’s belated 50th birthday celebrations, will be announced in the coming weeks.”

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The introduction of free entry at Kelham Island Museum and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet follows the formation of Sheffield Museums; a new charitable trust established last month which brought together Museums Sheffield and Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust.

Staff at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet prepare for the return of visitors to the attraction as the world slowly opens up following the COVID-19 pandemicStaff at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet prepare for the return of visitors to the attraction as the world slowly opens up following the COVID-19 pandemic
Staff at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet prepare for the return of visitors to the attraction as the world slowly opens up following the COVID-19 pandemic

Kim Streets, chief executive of Sheffield Museums, said: “Our team are really looking forward to welcoming visitors back – and we have a great programme lined up for them. The city’s museums and the collections they house belong to the people of Sheffield, so we’re delighted that free entry at all sites will make them available to everyone. Being open and free is only possible thanks to the incredible generosity of our visitors, so if you’re able, please donate; it makes a huge difference.”

Staff will be managing numbers carefully so that everyone can maintain social distancing, and cleaning procedures will be in place to sanitise after each family group has visited.

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet was restored in 2016, following a three year one million pound Heritage Lottery Funded restoration project.

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The site was purchased by the Alderman J G Graves Trust in 1935 and donated to the City of Sheffield – it was restored by the Council for the Conservation of Sheffield Antiquities and developed as a museum by the City of Sheffield Museums Department who opened it to the public in April 1970.

It was transferred to Kelham Island Museum Trust in the late 1990s, which later became Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust. The site is now part of Sheffield Museums Trust.

The activities are on a drop-in basis so it is recommended that you pre-book your ticket to the Hamlet here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/abbeydale-industrial-hamlet-pre-book-tickets-tickets-152532999307.

For more information visit http://www.simt.co.uk/

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